Learning that your beloved family pet has died is a difficult for anyone to deal with.

So when Nova the husky passed away in kennels when her owner Kirsten Kinch was away, Kirsten was heartbroken.

But things went from bad to worse when the woman went to collect her dog from the kennels.

Nova was returned to her family wrapped in a ball of plastic and tape, DublinLive reports .

Nova was returned wrapped in plastic

Kirsten had checked Nova into the kennel while on a trip to Iceland in December.

P&E Boarding Kennels in Kimmage told Kirsten her dog had died the morning she came to collect her, and then presented her a black ball wrapped in tape to take away.

The distraught Dubliner said she was "completely shocked" and that she took it to a vet immediately to be examined.

She posted on her Facebook page: "As we walked in the gate, myself and my mom where told that Nova had passed away and they had found her this morning in her kennel with blood coming from her.

"We where completely shocked and beyond devastated to hear this and at first I thought it was some horrible joke considering we had left a healthy dog in to be cared for three days earlier.

"I was then brought in to see my gorgeous dog who had been wrapped in what I can only describe as a ball in a black bag which was covered in masking tape, there was clearly so little care and empathy in the way she had been handled and dealt with since finding her.

"There are no words to describe how upsetting and traumatic it was to carry her to the car and take her home in what seemed a completely inhuman way."

Kirsten went on to say that vets couldn't believe a 25kg husky was in the bag - but after checking it's microchip the sad news was confirmed.

She is now on a mission to find answers from the kennel who she says haven't responded to queries about Nova's final days.

The husky suffered from colitis, and needed to take meds twice a day, and Kirsten says she was told they were administered correctly.

She said: "I questioned the kennels immediately on if she had received her medication and I was told she had, we drove straight to the vet with Nova where I then had to carry her in wrapped the way she had been given to me.

"The vet was horrified and couldn’t believe there was a 25kg husky wrapped in this black bag, we confirmed via microchip that it was Nova and myself and the vet made a decision to send Nova for a postmortem in UCD due to the circumstances.

"After the shock of what had happened wore off I emailed and messaged P&E to ask for more information in the days Nova had stayed there, how she had seemed etc and I still to this day I never received any kind of contact back from the kennels."

A postmortem reportedly showed that the dog had died from internal bleeding.

Dublin Live approached P&E for comment but nothing has yet been received.

What is colitis?

She continues: "Colitis occurs when the lining of the colon becomes irritated and inflamed, disrupting the last part of the digestive process.

"It’s the result of inflammatory cytokines that accumulate in the colon and disrupt the normal cellular structure and junctions of colonic tissues.

"Inflammation triggers secretions of mucus and other substances from the lining of the colon that interfere with normal gut motility. Inflammation of the colon triggers a cascade of gastrointestinal events on a cellular level and reduces the colon’s ability to absorb water from dietary waste products, and store and transport feces.

"This causes the stool to become loose, watery, greasy and sometimes tinged with mucus or fresh red blood.

"Pets with colitis can’t tell us how they’re feeling, but based on how humans with colitis feel, we can assume that a dog or cat with this condition is dealing with a substantial amount of discomfort and pain."

What are the symptoms of colitis?

According to Dr Becker on the Healthy Pets website, the symptoms are:

Watery diarrhea that may contain fresh red blood and mucus

Increased urgency in dogs to get outdoors to poop; in cats, urgency to reach the litterbox

Soft stools; slimy or greasy loose stools

Passing gas, painful cramping and/or straining during defecation

Secondary inflammation, redness, and irritation of the tissues around the anus